Softball Headline

The No. 6/5
University of Florida softball team defeated South Carolina, 20-0 and 6-1, in
a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Pressly Stadium. Senior Francesca Enea
(Woodland Hills, Calif.) tied the Southeastern Conference career home run
record in her first at bat of the game with the 60th home run of her
career. The All-American also established a Florida single-season record with
her 19th homer of the season, breaking the record she set one year
ago.

Led by
junior Tiffany DeFelice (Coral Springs, Fla.), who went 4-for-6 on the
day, with four RBIs, two runs and her first career grand slam, the Gators
(41-7, 19-4 SEC) set a new single-game hits record with 21 in the first game of
the doubleheader. Eleven of the 12 Gators to step up to the plate recorded at
least one hit.

Junior Stephanie
Brombacher (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and freshman Erin Schuppert (Atlantic Beach, Fla.) threw their second combined no-hitter in as many games in the first
contest. Starter Brombacher (27-5) tallied three scoreless innings, struck out
three and walked two, while Schuppert recorded one strikeout in two innings of
relief. Freshman Enlsey Gammel (Bakersfield, Calif.) earned the win in
the second game, giving up one run on five hits. The righty (13-2) walked one
and struck out seven in a complete-game performance.

Ashley
Chastain (4-17) shouldered the loss for the Gamecocks (11-39, 1-26 SEC), going
two innings, allowing 12 runs, four walks and striking out three. April
Borchardt (4-5) recorded the second loss after tossing 5.1 innings, giving up
six runs, four runs and two strikeouts.

In game
one, Florida took a seven-run lead in the first. Junior Aja Paculba (Wildomar, Calif.) drew a lead-off walk and advanced on Michelle Moultrie’s (Jacksonville , Fla.) single up the middle. Enea then gave UF an early advantage with a
three-run blast to center. After Chastain gave up two walks and a single to
load the bases, DeFelice hit the Gators’ ninth grand slam of the season to
extend Florida’s lead to seven.

UF added
five runs off five hits in the second to bring the score to 12-0. Junior Kelsey
Bruder (Corona, Calif.) increased the lead to nine with a homer to left
center, plating junior Megan Bush (Anaheim Hills, Calif.), who had
singled to third. Chastain then hit DeFelice and gave up a pair of singles to
load the bases. Moultrie singled up the middle to score DeFelice and two more
runs came in when Chastain hit Enea and walked Schutte with the bases loaded.

The Gators
tallied five more runs off Kierstyn White, who relieved Chastain in to start
the third. DeFelice singled to left and advanced to second after freshman Kelsey
Horton (Valrico, Fla.) reached on an error. Paculba singled up the middle
to drive in DeFelice. With the score 13-0, three consecutive walks plated Horton
and Paculba. Bush doubled off the left-field wall with the bases loaded,
plating Moultrie and freshman Brittany Walker (Tomball, Texas), extending the lead to 17-0.

In the
fourth, Florida added three additional runs on six hits and a Gamecock error.
DeFelice led off the inning with her second single of the game and advanced to
third on singles by Brooks and Horton. White snagged a liner by freshman Alyese
Stapf (Tampa, Fla.) and threw to third to catch DeFelice off the bag for a
double play. The Gators loaded the bases again when Gammel reached on an error
and with two down, three straight singles by freshmen – Walker, Brittany Schutte (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and Samantha Holle (Tampa, Fla.) – scored three more runs. Holle’s single to left was the 21st of
the game for the Gators, breaking UF’s previous single-game record of 20 set
against Florida A&M on April 5, 1998.

The second
contest remained scoreless through the first two innings. In the third, the
Gamecocks took a 1-0 lead when Adele Voight drove in Kandyce Redondo, who had tallied
South Carolina’s first hit of the day and stolen second.

The score
remained at 1-0 until the Gators claimed the lead with three runs in the bottom
of the fifth. Bruder led off with a single to center and moved up when
DeFelice smacked one of her own. With Gammel in to pinch run for DeFelice, Brooks
laid a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, but a throwing error enabled her
to hustle to second and both runners scored for a 2-1 lead. Brooks moved up on
Horton’s sac bunt and scored on Paculba’s third sacrifice fly of the season to
give Florida a 3-1 advantage.

Florida extended its lead by three runs on
three hits in the sixth. Bush doubled to right, scoring Walker, who had come
in to pinch run for Enea, who had earned a free pass to first. Walker then scored on a single by Bruder. Sophomore Lauren Heil (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) had come in to pinch run for Bush and advanced to third on Bruder’s hit. With
runners at the corners, the Gators pulled off the double steal to plate another
run. An error by the Gamecocks put runners on the corners for Brooks, who
singled to center to give Florida a 6-1 lead and the five-run win.

The Gators
return to action in the final game of the regular season on Sunday at noon at
Pressly Stadium. A ceremony honoring seniors Corrie Brooks and Francesca Enea
will take place prior to the first pitch. The game will be broadcast live on
SunSports and GatorVision.tv and can be heard on WYGC-FM 105 The Game (104.9).
Live stats will also be available on www.GatorZone.com.